EXPERIENCING GRACE
Although many of us have experienced grace, we still do not know grace. What a pity! It is possible to know only in a doctrinal way that Christ is our life supply for our enjoyment. We need to know grace experientially.
Suppose a brother is having a problem with his wife. If he consults a pastor in Christianity, the pastor may exhort him with Paul’s words about husbands and wives in Ephesians 5. He then may proceed to advise the brother or to admonish him with respect to his wife. Such instruction, however, is altogether void of grace. What this brother needs is for someone to minister life to him and to pray with him. In this way, grace will be supplied to him, and he will be able to face the situation with his wife.
All married brothers and sisters must learn to go to the Lord and pray, "Lord, I need You. I cannot bear this situation any longer." Simply by opening to the Lord in this way, grace is dispensed into us. Through such a supply of grace, you are able to go on.
Recently a brother testified how the situation between him and his wife reached a stalemate. He rarely spoke to her, and she rarely spoke to him. One day he asked his wife to pray with him. After that time of prayer, everything was changed. This is a testimony of the Lord’s grace.
The brothers who live together may experience friction and feel that living in a brothers’ house is unbearable. When the brothers feel this way, they should go to the Lord, contact Him, and tell Him that they cannot bear their living situation any longer. As they pray in this way, the supply of grace will come to them.
A situation that took place in the church in Chefoo more than forty years ago illustrates the sufficiency of the Lord’s grace. Two brothers had a serious disagreement regarding finances. One brother claimed that the other owed him a certain amount of money. The other brother denied the first brother’s claim. Eventually, they brought the problem to the elders of the church who endeavored to straighten out the situation. However, no solution came forth. On the contrary, the brothers even argued in the presence of the elders. Eventually, I told these two brothers that whoever received the Lord’s grace would be willing to forget the debt altogether. I said that the "court" in the church is completely different from a worldly court. The difference is that the church "court" cares not for who is right or who is wrong; rather, it supplies grace to meet the need. If you receive the Lord’s grace, you will praise Him and be willing to regard the matter as settled. The two brothers and the elders were surprised. Then I suggested that we all pray together. After a time of prayer, the two brothers began to weep and then to praise the Lord. Eventually they were willing to let everything go, and there was no further problem. Instead, we all feasted on the Lord’s grace.
(The Genuine Ground of Oneness, Chapter 7, by Witness Lee)
